BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Legislative Assembly on Tuesday witnessed noisy scenes for the third straight day with the members of the Opposition and ruling parties locking horns on various issues.
Following the ruckus, Speaker Pramila Mallik initially adjourned the House till 12 pm and convened an all-party meeting to normalise the functioning of the House. The all-party meeting was held at the Speaker’s chamber following which the session resumed. However, the pandemonium continued and the Speaker adjourned the House till 4 pm.
As soon as the session commenced on Tuesday, Opposition BJP MLAs shouted slogans alleging that their important questions on different issues were being rejected. However, ruling BJD MLAs tried to counter the BJP by raising the minimum support price (MSP) issue.
The situation forced Speaker Mallick to adjourn the House till 12 pm and call an all-party meeting to normalize the smooth functioning of the House.
“Questions are being rejected in the question hour of the Assembly which is quite unfortunate. If our questions will not be accepted for discussion during the question hour, why are we here? Opposing the move, all the BJP MLAs have worn black badges. The new Speaker is acting under the pressure of the government,” said Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi.
“The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is trying to avoid the question hour which is in the interest of the people of the state. Many people from different sections of the society are staging protests at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar over several issues. Whenever, BJP members are raising those issues in the State Assembly, the government is rejecting the questions. The state government is filtering the questions as per their convenience which is not acceptable. The voice of democracy is being choked in Odisha,” rued BJP leader Suryabanshi Suraj.
